How CourseKey Integrates With Verity To Decrease Daily Attendance Management Time By 83%
CourseKey and Verity’s two-way integration automates attendance processes, reducing time spent on daily attendance management by 83% at ForgeNow.
In a recent study of 150 career education staff members, 76 percent of respondents report that they still rely on manual data management to make their tech work. At the same time, 84 percent of career schools say manual work like data entry keeps them from meeting their goals.
This was the case at ForgeNow, a Dallas-based school training students in HVAC maintenance and electrical wiring. But Stephen Brightman, Director of Operations at ForgeNow, wanted to reduce the administrative burden on his staff and give them time to focus on what matters most: Supporting students.
“We were founded with the goal of innovating and modernizing trades education, and I’m incredibly proud of the education we provide our students,” said Stephen. “Looking at this manual process, I knew there had to be a better way to do it that was more in line with our mission.”
After some research, Stephen implemented the CourseKey and Verity integration to automatically transfer attendance data from CourseKey’s mobile attendance solution into Verity’s student information system.
Ultimately, the integration reduced staff time spent on daily attendance by 83 percent.
Automating attendance processes
Prior to implementing CourseKey, staff took attendance via paper sign-in sheets and entered the sheets into Verity—which took about 1-2 hours per day.
“Manually entering attendance data into Verity was workable, but I wanted a better process for our team,” said Stephen. “We wear a lot of different hats, so any time we spent on data entry was time that could be better spent elsewhere.”
ForgeNow has used Verity as its student information system since January 2022. The team was pleased with the functionality and trusted Verity’s support team. So when Stephen started looking for a way to automate attendance, he turned to Verity for a recommendation.
“We want our customers to have the best, most efficient tech stack, so we always recommend CourseKey to schools looking for an attendance automation solution,” said Aaron Anderson, CTO and co-founder of Verity.
ForgeNow went with Verity’s recommendation and implemented CourseKey to automate its attendance processes and give staff time back. Now, students check in and out on their phones using CourseKey, and the system automatically transfers the data to Verity.
“It was fine before. It’s excellent now,” said Stephen. “It’s one less thing that takes our time away from supporting students.”
Fast implementation and immediate return on investment
One of the most critical factors for ForgeNow when choosing an attendance solution was efficient implementation.
“We didn’t want an arduous implementation process,” said Stephen. “We wanted a system that we could get up and running in time for our next start, and the team delivered.”
Exactly two months after CourseKey and ForgeNow’s initial kickoff call, ForgeNow went live with CourseKey and started saving staff time.
“The implementation was easy, and we saw near-immediate time savings,” said Stephen. “Now, we only spend about 10-15 minutes on daily attendance management.”
Happier staff and students
After the initial learning curve, staff members enjoy the new process. Administrators can easily see missed time without digging through papers for confirmation, and instructors are pleased that they no longer have to calculate attendance manually.
Stephen also appreciates the workforce training that CourseKey brings to his students.
“Most of our students will be hourly employees that will have to take the responsibility of clocking in and out to get paid, so CourseKey helps them build those good habits early on,” said Stephen.
“Overall, our staff is happier, our students like seeing their progress, and it gives me more confidence that our data is timely and accurate. It reinforces that we made the right decision with CourseKey and Verity.”
Request a demo if you’d like to learn more about how CourseKey and Verity integrate to save your staff time.
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